Category Archives: Nature

Sights and smells of the great outdoors.

CMMC: November Pick a Topic

Judy, Julie and Snickerdoodle. Photo: TLClark, 11/10/2020.

It’s another photo challenge and I get to pick the topic based on a picture! Click on this link to see the picture and the guidelines of Cee’s challenge.

Walk. I’m visiting my parents and we walk with dear friends every day. The picture above is definitely a candid shot, another possibility for the topic of the day.

Fence. More than one fence keeps folk on the foot bridge and out of the water. I’m intrigued by stripes and the grid in the shadow.

.Foot Bridge, Shiloh Conservation Area, Billings, MT. Photo: TLClark, 11/19/2020.

Orange. The only orange I could find outdoors in central Montana in mid-November is on Snickerdoodle’s scarf. After I looked a the challenge photo again, the topic for this picture could also be fuzzy.

Snickerdoodle. Photo: TLClark, 11/21/2020.

Posted in response to Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge – November Pick a Topic from [her] Photo. Such fun!

A Photo a Week Challenge: JOY

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Longtime Friends. Shiloh Conservation Area, Billings, Montana. Photo: TLClark, 11/6/2020.

In this strange time of pandemic, what brings you joy?

Julie and Judy. *Shiloh Conservation Area, Billings, Montana.* Photo: TLClark, 11/6/2020.

For my parents, it’s a walk and a visit with longtime friends. The walking started as rehab for Mom. In this time of social distancing, it’s grown into a (nearly) daily habit – good for body, mind, and spirit.

Tom and Don. *Shiloh Conservation Area, Billings, Montana.* Photo: TLClark, 11/6/2020.

The gals stay on level ground. The guys take a longer loop. The dog would like to go with both but is forced to choose.

Snickerdoodle. Photo: TLClark, 11/12/2020.

Posted in response to Nancy Merrill’s challenge “A Photo a Week Challenge: Joy.”

Flower of the Day: Glowing

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At Reiman Gardens, 8/10/20. Photo: TLClark.

The center of this flower glowed yellow in the bright afternoon sun.

Posted in response to Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.

FOTD – Brown (or red?) Sunflower

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Much to my surprise the flash went off when I took this picture and I figured it would be a throw-away. But I rather like it just the way it came out – no editing!

Is it brown or deep red? Is it a Velvet Queen variety or a Moulin Rouge? Or something else? How long have brownish sunflowers been a thing?

Posted in response to Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD) photo challenge.

RDP: Feathers

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Somehow it’s become a small collection.

Feathers.

Found in the front yard.

Picked up along the bike path.

Alike.

Yet unique.

Now flocking on top of a bookcase.

Feathers.

+ + + + + + +

Feathers photographed and posted in response to the Ragtag Daily Prompt RDP SATURDAY: FEATHERS.

FOTD: Yellow Coneflower

FOTD: Coreopsis (Tickseed)

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White Coreopsis (Tickseed). Photo: TLClark, 6/18/2020.

Take another look. Did you notice the wings on the bug?

Thanks, Cee, for the Flower of the Day Photo Challenge.

FOTD: New Needles

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I don’t generally think of conifer trees as growing new leaves. But they do – every spring!

The contrast in color and the variety startled me when I saw these trees around a church in Ankeny, Iowa, U.S. My camera was in the car so I put it to use.

“The needlelike leaves may be long or short, flat or round. … Most species are evergreen, keeping their needles all year. Needle leaf trees are also called conifers because most of them bear fruits called cones.”
– George A. Petrides, Peterson First Guide to Trees

In order to identify the trees with any certainty, I need to take the guidebook with me and go take a closer look at the trees. Using broad categories, I’m pretty sure there’s a pine, a spruce and a fir among these pictures.

Thanks, Cee, for the FOTD Challenge … flowers, leaves, berries and such!

FOTD: Ornamental Flowering Pear Trees

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I don’t know about you, but for me these days of COVID-19 pandemic seem to run one into another. Just the other day I said something about going to a niece’s High School graduation. My best beloved asked, “Where?” He was genuinely disappointed when I said we would go virtually like we go nearly everywhere else.

Stepping outside the house helps keep – or restore – some sanity. Even on overcast, gray days the natural world is keeping its beautiful annual transformation.

THREE CONSECUTIVE SATURDAYS

One set of Ornamental Flowering Pear Trees.

Along 36th Street, Ankeny, Iowa. May 2, 2020. Photo: TLClark.

Along 36th Street, Ankeny, Iowa. May 9, 2020. Photo: TLClark.

Along 36th Street, Ankeny, Iowa. May 16, 2020. Photo: TLClark.

The trees are pretty when driving or walking by.
But I think the individual blossoms are prettier!

Even after the petals fall off, the remaining sepals, pistils and stamens have a beauty of their own. Notice the silhouettes against the sky.

Hoping you are able to step outside and see something beautiful today.

Posted, in part, in response to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge.

FOTD: Flowering Crabapple

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Flowering Crabapple Branch against Blue Sky. Photo: TLClark, 5/9/2020.

Though delinquent in posting anything to my blog, I have taken some photos in the last three weeks! These are of the same flowering crab apple tree on three consecutive Saturday mornings. Spring is fading into summer.